Mike Davis said he was all set not to become Detroit Mercy's 22nd men’s basketball head coach.

On June 4, he flew home to Houston after meeting with UDM athletic director Robert Vowels and president Antoine Garibaldi. He was ready to honor his commitment to Texas Southern. He and his family love Houston and in the six years at the school, his team had never finished lower than second in the Southwest Athletic Conference, where he first met Vowels.

“I told (Texas Southern) I would never leave," Davis said on Thursday at his introductory news conference.

“I didn’t turn it down, I labored with it a lot,’’ Davis said. “I thank Robert for his patience. Most ADs would've just moved on. He kept saying ‘I understand, I understand, I understand.’ I fell in love with Texas Southern. We won eight out of 11 championships (regular season and postseason tournament). The NCAA tournament was a routine thing for us.

“I made my mind up. I decided I wasn’t going to come. ... Some things happened. I changed my mind."

Davis admitted that Texas Southern tried to keep him, but in the end Vowels' message drove home.

After a near-three-month search, Vowels said he got the person he wanted in Davis, with whom he had discussed the job with for two weeks.

“It wasn’t a matter of him turning the job down, but was this the right place for him. That was in his mind," Vowels said. "From what we talked about, there was no turning down. Each conversation was how do we figure this thing out."

Davis said no player would be run off that wanted to stay. Corey Allen has already transferred to Georgia State, where former coach Ray McCallum is an assistant, and Kam Chatman entered the NBA draft pool.

Vowels apologized to the players who stayed.

“I know it has been difficult for our student-athletes and I thank them for their patience," Vowels said. “It has been tough. I know it has been a trying time. Some of the secrecy if you will. ... We had to do that for various reasons to make sure that this process was never compromised."

One player, senior Josh McFolley, will play for his third head coach at UDM and said he was excited about what he heard.

“It’s like high school all over again," said McFolley. “I’m very excited and interested. I’ve heard a lot about Mike Davis over the past few weeks. I’m excited to have a coach like him, who is experienced, coached under Bob Knight, took a Texas Southern team to the tournament the past five years. I’m very excited and ready to get to work."

UDM wouldn’t give exact figures – and doesn't have to because it's a private institution – but confirmed that Davis' deal is for multiple years at around $425,000 a year. He will bring his entire staff from Texas Southern to Detroit and said even though it’s late in the year, he would have no problems bringing in recruits.

“My phone has been ringing off the hook," he said.

Davis ha a career coaching record of 352-241 at Indiana, Alabama-Birmingham and Texas Southern.

“I’ve known Mike for a while; we were actually neighbors in Birmingham when I was commissioner of the SWAC and he was at UAB," said Vowels. "I saw his teams at UAB and I was always impressed with how prepared they were. He’s the best fit possible. We believe that we found a coach that is experienced, who has integrity, has been successful, tough, determined, smart, creative, hard-working, confident and cares about his players."